‘The Ongoing Mystery of Covid’s Origin By David Quammen“RIVETING” ROGEREBERT.COM “SUBLIME” THENEW YORKER “BRUTALLY FUNNY” " THE ATLANTIC “ATHREE-WAY TANGLE OF DESIRI AND CONFUSION” SCREEN INTERNATIONAL “ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF | SUNDANCE 2023” ROLLING STONE “APOWDER KEG ‘THE FLM STAGE. MAURICIO ONLY IN THEATERS ZACHARIAS & THIS AUGUST —iRASACHS IRASACHS — —mubiconvoessagesEhe New York Cimes Magazine 7 Sereenland Open City By Nicolas Gemmariaio12'The Ethleist in Want of @ Husband By Kvume Aion Appiah Letter of Recommendation Victcr Aerobics By Jean Shapland "Vs Post-Normal Buring Out of Control Ay David Wallae:Wele 18 Eat Medieval Hummos By Liga Aishen by 30,2009 20 Points of Origin 28 The Groat Trespass 28 What's Paste Prologue ‘By David Quanmen / We sil don't know By Brooke Jarvis” Agroup of Engch atvsts 2y Watt Mason’ RE. o9@ 3, the poet Shore how the pandemic started, Here's what (ore fighting forthe “right to roam, MeCroe was kenapped by his wate wwe do kaw — ane why lt matters ‘nal the Hea that nature i common goed grandparents — a uptue tht he explores ina remerkable new memo, DDextmoor National Parkin Bon, which i atthe center f the Fight over wid camping, or what ‘Americans woud cll backpacking, rid alee battle over tho “right to room” on public lands. Pago 28. ‘Contibutors / STheThread / 10 Poem / 12Judge JohaHodgman / 5 ReadLike the Wind / 40,44, 16Puzzles / 30 Puzzle Answers (On the Cover last hy Jalsa ern 200 The eno Tee FiCee Coenen Ciaran Ce ne ee Page 20 ee Ee ee ene ee ee eee) Dee eee ee ee eed en et ere ences ee er erent et meee eee ete) See eae Ee ett ‘ius hide when it's not ling people?” Guammon says. "That question led me to yoors ‘of investigating the emergence of new diseases, especially those caused by novel reentry eetreet oer eT nt eee cee] Sheeran Leen eee coer ert orn uven Afanodoris @ Colombian-born photographer based in New York. He has worked ro Dee ee aes Pas Pores Peas ‘Serenland ee ee ee eas og Porc” Poors ee es Page 28 cee enone Preto cen rer pene eee ee een ee ee ae Poe eeenen te ern rs Cr ne eee eee ten ees ee Page a8 Images of Ai Weinel, Molly Goddard and Stephen Howking. Perret er aa eee eee ond eede mabeteaed sere covering agro of activists exering ee ees ee aaa ee ees Seer ase eae nee rea eee eee eee eed Pe ee ee Td ere are eee ee a eer tees 4 oe)‘The Thread Readers respon tothe 716.23 se. RE: GRETA GERWIG'S ‘GARBIE* DREAM JOB Willa Paskin wrote about the director's Asamother who purposely avoided buy ing Barbies for my daughter when she ‘was growing up inthe 1980s, 'mamused to find myself insanely stoked to see this ‘movie, Not sure what's with all he hate, but after reading this thoughtful and insightful piece, Im even more excite. Christine, Naperville ‘bl. Barbie. Though definitely played with them in earnest fora while in early childhood, my mos vivid Barbie memory iso gleefully siting with my cousin and cutting off all our Barbies’ hai, coloring fon them with markers and throwing them off the roof. When I frst saw that a Barbie movie was coming out, I promptly ignored it. But when I found out it was made by Greta Gerwig, who so perfectly encapsulated my Sacramento-atea youth with “Lady Bird” now I'm looking for ward to watching it Teach ‘This artile is amazing. Really looking, forward to seeing the movie! I never payed with Barbies, but after reading this, [really want co see the film — and to Feel blessed! [loved “Little Women and “Lady Bird so [trust Greta Gerwig, to pull ofthis tricky balancing ct. Susan & M, Basel, Switzerland haven't looked forward to a movie this much in years Like many women ‘my age, Barbie wasa big part of my play leas a child in the 1990s my sister and I loved collecting outfits for our dollsand spenthours playing with them, changing. them in and out of one ensemble after another forall of their various activities), land I'm so excited to see hove this film tackles Barbie's issues and pays homage to her strengths. Greta Gerwig is cer tainly one ofthe best screenwriters and directors working today (and, | think fone of the most interesting), and I feel insafe hands with her. Ann, New York ‘What a fantastic article, capturing so ‘many contradictory feelings and points of view so beautify. [hope the movie lives up to this great pieee of writing! Sonia Acharya ve had Barbie and Ken tattoos on my forearmsfor years, and hundreds of Bar biesstillin the boxes, stored in their own special places, Asa G1-year-old gay man ‘who has worshiped Barbie my entire life, personally can't wait to see the movie fon July 21. Thank you, Greta and Margot, forbringing this olf. ‘Mark, Palm Springs, Calif. was raised in “gender neutral” (read overalls and primary colors) clothing in the 1980s, but every birthday and (Christmas I received a Barbie. They did everything with me: climbed trees, got thrown inthe lake, played in the sand: box, Barbie wasn'ta source of selEdoubt ~ she was a vehiele for my imagination that wasn a baby; an adult woman in a ball gown who was also president and hhaving a sordid afar withthe Barbie in the other part of the Dreamhouse. Now Tma mother in my 4os, and the Barbie dliscourse this summer has sparked so ‘many fantastic discussions among my rowslatir te got ho {sve delivered to syourinox Wook ‘We'regoingto seethe movie ‘onopeningnight inagrowp,in pink outfits, fully aware that ittsamarketing ploy,and we're going ohave afantastic time. stations by Gocom Gambiner adult female friends about what we did ‘with our Barbies and what they meant to us, as girls and as women, We're going to see the movie on opening night in a ‘group. in pink outfits, fullyaware chat it's AAmarketing ploy, and we're going to have ‘fantastic time, Jessica, Washington RE: ROBERT DOWNEY IR. David Marchese interviewed the ator Best interview of Robert Downey Jr. ever. IFyou've seen that video ofa jour nalist doing all the wrong things trying tointerview him, this was the corretive to that train wreck, a master lassin get ting the actor to diseuss what is actually important tothe rest ofthe world about his recovery, without needling him for personal details that are (a) nobody's business, and (b) only going to be used to throw shade and shame at him (usu ally passive-aggressively; welcome to Hollywood!) Beaucoup enlightening. David Neushuls “You are getting so muich gratification from this process of putting yourself in this position of service, and no one’s keeping score.” Robert Downey Jr. said. “That is something { learned as was tunneling my way back to being a functioning member of society. one teaspoon of dirt at atime.” Thank you for what, to me, isthe most interesting interview I've ever read in The Times. What a great actor. This old lady will make her frst trip © a movie theater in years to see “Oppenheimer” Jesie Pearl Tennessee Send your thoughts lo magasineonylimescom,ay sere eed esr Reflect on Go deeper on Parle te met FC or Econom fone cy SUBSCRIBER-ONLY NEWSLETTERS Soe O Ba feet Sara ese eee Pee Peer) ety Embrace parenting wins and woes.Fl Ehe New York Eimes Magazine BLA “The Bear” shows off something genuinely great about Chicago. @ By Nicholas Cannariato @ FX’s “The Bear,’ now in its second season, is about | grief and family and food, but there’s something else there, too. Its protagonist, Carmen Berzatto, is an accomplished chef who has worked in ee MIEN cleat ey MCcIeTere TEM MN (orn TSC a Semon Laundry and Eleven Madison Park. When ey iBSereeniand the show began, he had come home to Chicago after the death of his brother who left him a struggling shop selling a local staple, Italian beef sandwiches. army could have rin the place lke any othe hundreds of modest lc counters inthe city or else he could have sold it and angled to return tothe world of fine dining. Instead, we watched him attempt a third thing, turning the business ince a new; forward-thinking restaurant. This is the other stuf the show is about: ambi tion, and Chicago, and the freedom the nation's third largest city ean offer to fol lows your ambitions on your own terms “The Bear” is among relatively few TV shows that truly lean into a Chicago setting: In addition to copious shots of ° 72023 clevated trains and city skylines, there are nods to local extute hallmarks rang ing from the obvious Scottie Pippen, ill Murray, Vienna Beefhot dogs)tothe deep cr euts (Harold Ramis, Requod’s Pizza, Margie's Candies). Some of network tele are set here ~ "Chicago be “Cheago Fire’ “Chieago PD" — but like so many Chicago stories on TV, they use the city forits unmarked, adaptable qualities: tis netropolis big enough to accommodate any type of person or story, big enough that viewers do not expect to be offered «quaint local color, and yet not cultural ly defined in the American mind in the ways New York City and Los Angeles are Chicago isin the sweet spot, asking for Chicagoisin the sweet spat, asking for nocxplanation, 1 explanation, happy to serve asa kind of median ety. Insofar as it does have a rational reputation, iis as an anpreten tious workhorse ofa place: the “City of the Big Shoulders” the city Nelson Algren compared to loving a woman witha bro: ken nose, CYoumay well find lovelierlove Ties. But never a lovely so real” The sort of place a restless, phicky Midwesterner Tike Cs hisambitions,hoping to prove something toeveryone back home ~ and the sort of my would are in order to pursue place he would eturnto, stoicand remot, todole out unglamorous sandwiches from a broken nosed kind of sho that there are, infact, more than 20 restau rants in thecity with at east one Michelin“Bl fate © aaa 0 Salett> reheat star, Hut “The Bear” captures something real about the city’s dining culture ~ and, more broadly, what you might eall the geography of ambition. In one scene in the second season, Syiney Adama, the woman whois now chef de esine forthe new restaurant Carmy hopes to stars is discussing the menu with him when she notices his old ches uniform from New York, embroidered with his initials. He sees her looking tit. "New York — lame right?” he says Sydney replies“ mano hateit Like, dont get me wrong, Ido. But it looks sick, and I bet ic fel really good wearing it” Iti, Carmy acknowledges; nobody here is going to deny New York's cultural domination, But he goes on to talk about having earned Michelin stars, saying that his brain raced right pas the joy oft to dread — that it felt imperative to keep them at all costs. “New York: here, signifies a heightened awareness cof stausand image, stress and precarity, ruthlessness dressed as sophistication, And Chicago for"The Bea is depict ced — accurately — as a place where the goal is nat necessarily to win status or ‘celaim so much as to ereate something great and original, ambitious without pretense, committed to excellence forts ‘own sake rather than prestige ot fame, This is the kind of chef we see Carmy transforming into, and the kind of chef ‘we're shown surrounding him. When sydney, planning fr visits other restaurants secking guidance, 7 new business, Ma epletion of he stint River North she finds people glad to assist at the well-regarded eatery Avee, she gets ers cial advice from the real-life restaura- teur Donnie Madia, playing itmsel The show cass the city’s restaurant cultureas sophisticated but warm, sma. It con tinually suggests that onee you abandon the ladder-limbingit associates with the coasts, ambition ean he more about play ing the game on your own terms oF not playing taal — pursuing your ambition Without the brutal expense or atomizing tlsracompettiveness of places closer to the cultural spotligh. Inanother second season scene, Syd ney has video chat with the pastry chef “Mares, who has gone to Copenhagen to hone his skills, She has been readingSereeniand jeading With the Hear,” a book by the former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski ~a gift from her father Her offhand summary of ts lessons is litle dismissive, but Mares, a former alh- lete, gos it The team "kept drilling” he says, grinding slowly toward excellence Marcus receives his own lesson about ambition when he asks Luca, the chef he's studying under, how he got so good. Laca replies that after working with superior cook, he realized he wasnt the bestand wasn't ever goingto be the best. He came to see this asa good thing: “I could take that pressure off myself. And the only logical thing to dowas to ty and keep upith him” At some point, he sys, doing great things is less about skill and ‘more about being open “to the world, 10 yourself, to other people This kind of ambition — humane and independent — is often neglected in Hol Iywood portrayals of driven people, but "The Bear” nails it. I's something you encounter inthe real Chicago, too, This really is «city where people are able to do unique and forward-looking things With food: where comic actors are Fanny in person long before they are lor aren) pulled to the coasts to be Funny on eam: era; where large and underrecognized shares of Blac and Latino eultural and business leaders have done their work: where there are rich and idiosyneratic scenes in theater and musie and art and literature that seem to thrive regardless ofwhether any national spotight will ever tiltin their direction. In “The Bear” even in the tense run up tothe restaurants opening, you don't see Sydney or Marcus burnishing their ‘egos or waiting for people to recognize hhow special they are. Their moments of triumph eome not from erties or crows but from the people around them: Mar cas’ presenting dish named in memory of Carmy’s brother. or Sydney's lovingly preparing an omelet for Carmy’s belea ‘guered sister, Natalie, and then linger- ing, vulnerable, to see how it goes over. ‘Their ambitions revolve around the work itself and the peopte with whom they do it. Carmy struggles his way toward the same sensibility, even when it scares him. Cooking, he acimits by the season's end, has forhim, been about routine and con: centration, about single mindedly pursi: inga goal— an approach that helped him avoid the messiness of human connection, 0 72023 Their ambitions revolve around the excellence of the work itself. hiding his vulnerability behind the armor |_withow much concern for image or sta ‘of is ov accomplishments, tus. “The Bear" seems o see this asavery CCarmy went back to Chicago because | Chicago thing. Resilient but vulnerable, hie had to, He stays because he wants to, | ambitious but sincere, sophisticated but Forhim, and for Sydney, and for Marcus, | real, somehow too subtly original to be the point isto doa great thing, forits own | easly defined in the American mind — sake, alongside people you care about, | that fees ike my city t© me, too. Poem Selected by Anne Boyer Joshua Cloves My Life in the New Milenniam” gin witha thor. if ania either ‘ar Then the porn inoves quick fo acer it ustapostons and surprises, providing room Jor both Whitney Houston and th word system. for both wit and commited serious, “or gravity an lig. By teen ofthe poem is inital dilemma has fund a resolution: a shared category eapacious enough fr both people and cals — ad for history tell ‘My Life in the New Millennium By Joshua Cloner twas true that the more I hated people the more I loved cats. ‘Then people started to surprise me. Often this involved fire or coca-cola bottles with petrol which amounts to the same thing, Once fire is the form of the spectacle the problem becomes how to set fire to ire. Some friends were prepared to help with this whieh ‘Michael Jackson having died and then Whitney Houston, was the new pop music. Without an understanding of the world system and the underlying truth of land as the place of polities and the sea as the space of commerce it is hard to integrate that other ‘most important fact of our era. Pirates. My friends, and pirates and cats — it comes down to comrades known and elsewhere. ‘Rane Bayern aps sn cy ir maak canara ar, Te Ung wen asa Par ‘re oreo fon Joshua lover arr an comma Ret rich Raann (Dal Caer rn sand ad Sree New of Utne th wh a oe toh mation and cn bord Balin Corman From Shand Ee Tia apes i "el pCa ans 205 wah pr ft and aval fr da ot pale station by R.0 Blackman1500 One easy way to miles hoofed vesonty make hiking a 40 walk in the park hours trekking with poles pairs of socks pushed to their limits At Wirecutter, we do the work so you don't have to. Discover independent reviews for thousands of products at nytimes.com/ hellowirecutter he dew York Eines Research. Reviews. Recommendations.‘The Ethicist By Kwame Anthony. How Can I Tell if My Fiancé Loves Me or Just Wants U.S. Citizenship? Lam an my 605. On a trip home five years ago, {met an Egyptian mar mouc younger ‘han me. We fl in love and decided to marry so we could be loge ina pen are fee society. applied fr hi to come tothe United States as my plan American man in fiancé. Two months later, the pandemic hit Bverthing was dosed and his visa processing al the US. Embassy i Cairo ‘was put on hold. We spent over wo yas just waiting, net owing when ‘his situation wil be resolved. During ‘hat time, [raved to Egypt every four to six months 19 we could be together. (Over the past yea; our relationship Jas gradually delerioated, culminating in his texting me, ton months ago, hat he i ol sur if we are good foreach other. Ten, ily, the visa was approved. [Now we have four months to decide if we should proced with our marriage plans. He now says he wants tobe together [ans het. level of trust in hin has dininshed, because when times were rough, he didnot keep faith in our relationship. {ill lve him, Heals says he loves ‘me, I don't question thal. Bul Tam afraid ‘that his lov situational and no solid. Inever wanted to marry until met hi. 1 ‘think of hin as my life partner. Now this ecling hasbeen challenged. Do you have ‘any fica incght hat ca lp me decide? Name withheld Many readers will immediately wonder ‘whether this man tuly loves you or whe ther he's simply drawn tothe better life you represent. The per capita gross national {income in Egyptisa fraction of America and the situation there for gay men, npr ‘cua, pretty ba. (Huran Rights Watch bas reports of entrapment, arbitrary arrest and police makrearment of LGBTQ peo pl, sometimes using private information foun on computers or cellphones) Sohe bas plenty of easons to want to get out of Egypt. Either he loves you for you or he wants a better life, Which sit? That ether or captures our usual com: ‘mon sense and has the comfort of simple ity. Butthen [thinkof the most celebrated IWstration To Un “marriage plot” novel of Englishlteraare Jane Austen's “Pride and Prejudice” Why oes Elizabeth Bennet love Mr. Darey? His wealth doesn't clinch the deal she tums dovin his first proposal Yet it's far from irelevant. There isa sene in which she visits his house and grounds (in his albsence, as she imagines! and is bowled over by its grandeur and graciousness, Austen makes it pin that Eliza wouldn't ‘marry him jst for is wealth and that she vwoukln'tmarry him without t- In Austen's world’s part of what makes him lovable, Your ease presents various further complications. Ideally, you would spend real time together and try to igure out whether you're ready to be life partners, The vagaries of US. immigration laws ‘mean thatyou have to decide what to do lover the next Few months. So you've got te incerpret some confusing signals. On the one hand, your fiance's earlier hests tions could indicate that his felings are fickle; on the other, why would someone who was simply desperate to get out of gyptunderminchis chances in that way? Inthe best scenario, you have inxleed found a partner for life, with whom vou share important cultural ties, In a bad scenario, the marriage won't work out, asmarriages frequently don't, which wll exact a serious emotional and financial toll (A2014 analysis found higher divorce rates among marriages with large age gaps) In the worst scenario, youl have passed on what may turn out to he sven that ths isthe first time you have contemplated marriage in all your adult life — your best chance at lasting ove wish [ could offer you some simple hhewtstic. Gilbert Ryle, who was among the most probing philosophers ofthe past century, was impressed that Jane Austen's ‘moral approach was, i his terms, Ars- totelian rather than Calvinist ~ that her characters weren't divided into saints and sinner but instead mixed viesand vires in various proportions. Inthe same way Ausen thought tha elationships could be amalgams of ll sors of things they cou be transactional ana transporting, What's inthis man’s heart? Possibiya complicated ‘mixture of emotions and motives But that doesnt settle the matter. In the end, i's your own heart you'll have o consul. My fiends many i good friends with ny ‘own nanny. Over the years, my nanny has told ree about instances when my friend On.hiy 4, declored {Sah be bck Seo jute fl ‘rimescom ti‘has mistreated nanmies she has hired ~ establishing egalsightsforthem. Some of | Jane Austen. dure Am J obligated to tell my neighbors whaling fod. efexing payment for | your eres conduct might viola hese ths is happening? Should surrender ny tna vorkand rengingon benefits she | laws. Hou ive in one ofthese juris. | thtmghtthat | shh are deicionsby the may — ered. Ths friend displays rothing | tons you could give your fends nanny | Alabianships | fore ners ofthese ward fo? bat lovely behavior toward me and oar | thepane numberof the oficeinthelabor | epuldbe other friends, but knowing how she treats | department that investigates such cases, lemvaiae ‘her nannies is increasingly disturbing But this line of approach probably makes | @Malgams of into the point where flr thnk Tean | sensconlyfthemannyisreadytomoveon. | asOHtsOFthiNgS, | whenit comes ges deposited onyour be frends ith hr and nol say ang theycouldbe Proper: it= ner, keepers (No doubt batt To hist | Weve inthe country, ad he neighbors Kanal and | 8 ses possi anraccoonil into hur inleoffrendsafwyeurs | whore rary se harecickem very | Wansactonal and | 'civen that your neighbors knove fecysand sce ofr ha am part | morning ey reese them, Tee are | MaSpOiNg, | you're feeding ther chickens, it sounds of a great group of women. Should I “free range” birds, and they head straight ‘ungenerous that they've never offered you Intervene and ek he being ever wore | ink ouryard. This hs ben going on for any oftheir eggs Bat or hav happen tovard her nannics and crating rt | years nei cir varius os. you'd all ave tobave a more neighborly in the friend circle? Or do I say nothing | appears that they don’t fed their poultry ‘relationship than you do. Ifyou saw one dnd contin ih busines as usual? | and expect tem o survive by foraging. another more often, you might share not Tes lids ar over here all day every inst thee flocks milaid eggs but theft Nome Withhela day. spend $0 dallars a month feeding that you're eating them. © than Tey apreit and ev their People are perfeetly capable of being | company. The nibs are anare 1 fod civil those they regard as their equals | theirhickens, bul thy never give us any ‘ere Rethony Apia acer ry wl rating those they regard as ther | ofthregx Recenly fobered that cery he ome ident hele That nd inferiors wth contempt. Indeed the exis | other day hen wl ly amen our ity tence of social hierarchies makes this a common phenomenon. Speaking up, as you recognize, may have social costs for you. Let's put aside, for'a moment, how your friend will reac. Others in her cirele may be anxious about what the people in their employ will say about ‘hem, They might feel you have betrayed your friendship. ever betrayed a kind of lass solidarity, But we should ear if our friends behave badly, and we should try toencourage them to behave better, not least to proteet those they are wronging. “The greater problem, of course, is that if you bring up what you've heard with your friend, she will now chat her nanny has been complaining about her — and ‘may retaliate, Recause her nanny isvulner able here, make sure that whatever you do has her approval. ‘That may iwvolve com ‘munieating with her through your nanny) You sugges that thishas happened witha series of nannies, which raises the ques: tion of how much longer the current one willbe around. I she doesn’t want you to peak up, you oould wait until the next ‘Two Chairs Com Hill 2023, 26x18 inches clan canvas, ©/2023 Mitchell Johnson. transition. If that’s not going to happen soon, you may feel you have to distance cee Mitchell Johnson thappeaingeompaye Palo Alto Exhibit / July 14—August 3, 2023 ints to a broader issue: ly few protections for Details at wwwmitchelliohnson.com domestic workers in our county. Ten Request catalog: mitchelcatalog@amaiicom states and a numberof cities have laws Follow on instagram and Threads: mitchell johnson artist Your letter There are relatLetter of Recommendation Water Aerobics By Jenn Shapland Inthe locker room, women's voices dis cuss the temperature of the air to col their impossible), | eavesdrap as [pull on my ‘one-piece and flip-flops, grab my bag of toys Blithely I bypass the lap poo! rot once in my adult life have [craved ‘more repetitive activity. Instead I set up hop on the side ofthe warm-water pool foam weights, kickboard, noodle and, slipping into the 92-degree water, ense a holy transition, The athers arrive byway of along ramp, discarding canes cr walkers, hoisting themselves from wheelchairs, fingers trailing in deep- cing water. I's a runway, but no one looks at them, The Santa Fe Community ering from surgery, injuries or vicissitudes of life, Ive had to learn @ new body: In my early 208, L was ding nosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatie Tachyeardia Syndrome), a ehronie ill ness whose symptoms include extreme Photegronh by Ener Coucel physical fatigue. I'd always fainted from standing too long For the sixth grade class fish dissection of running a mile in gym class ~ but now [was faint ing while sitting in a char, woory every time stood. The eardiologis offered me sal pills and sent me on my way POTS was then understudied, like ‘many ailments found chiefly in women, Bat astronauts had long reported feling dizzy as they returned from space, and NASA investigated the underlying eause orthostatic intolerance, of a strugglewith standing up, of which POTS is a type. Five years after my diagnosis, told a student of a NASA-funded researcher how was unable to stand for my eight hour bookstore shift without leaning ‘most of my weight on the counter; how T fell asleep on my lunch break. She responded with my personal nightmare an exercise regimen. At first I could barely manage five minutes on a rowing machine or a recumbent bike. With POTS, I felt so heavy, Mornings, Pd moan to my’ part ner, “I'm in the well!” Unable to lift my own head, I propped myself up on a series of pillows to get out of bed, Pathetically valiantly, I worked my way upto minutes of reeumbent exercise, to 30 minutes, to walking ona treadmill Tread « book the entire time ~ dense poststructural theory so exeruciatingly bored was by the foot-smelling univer: sity gym. Silt astonished me I could do any of this with my Grinch heart. 1 ‘graduated to walks outside in the Texas swelter and swims in the neighborhood pool. Something shifted during those first dips, treading water and dodging toddlers. wasn't weightless, but gravity had less of hold on me. I started going to the poo! because of POTS, I keep going back to be sur- rounded, blisflly by what the poet Lisa Robertson calls she-dandies: women past their childbearing years who are finally fee to beuseless to capitalism, to be “improduetive” with theit bodies. In Santa Fe ~ which, if you squimt, resem: besa lesbian separatist retirement com ‘munity — most creatures ofthe pool are postmenopausal women: I'd place the median age at 70, Robertson might be describing one of my poolmates when she writes:“She has entered an undoc- ‘mented corporat, Excellent. Novr the scintillating research can begin” I, t00, feel my eorporality is undocumented, Asa 36-year-old queer woman whoisn't having children, have a deep affinity with the postmenopausal. My bod, now that 'mable to use itis For me to enjoy T make up the exercises asf go. The sound system blares hits of the 1980s, from the resplendent (Tina Turner) to the abysmal (Tom Petty) I test my strength against the water with the foam weights. Astide our noodles, we paddle past one another with a nod, a smile, maritime voyagers held aloft by a different realm altogether. watch someone wind hernew shoulder in ts socket and see theamazement onher face: Who knew Toould do this? Jenn shaptana Teer “tiga of Gane cle oan ere toler, Tn ti ‘Putheon 3 tina dap neon foam and salinity, The women ‘often bounce in small circles together, where they trade recipes or deseribe birds they've seen. Once, afew months alter my mother died suddenly at ag 72, [heard a group of them planning to meet at Starbucks after their svim, | considered following them, showing up to coffee. Im sure they would have weleomed me. 1 suspect that the she-dandies are in the pool for the same reason I am, Whatever burdens their bodies have borne over the decades, in the water they find lightness, suspension. None of us are counting laps or eps. We are transported by immersion toa different realm altogether, watch someone wind hher new shoulder in its socket and see the amazement om her face: Who knew Teould do this? ‘The ethos of the pool reminds me 1 am meant to move more slowly in the water and out, My body is temporary and my job isto relish the time I have in in the pool, time slows down. On bad days, cardio isa strugale; bolstered by the water, [can do things impossible onland, Surrounded by othertimeworn bodies, I feel sublime. 1 am an astro rut, an intergalactic wanderer recently arrived on Earth, [balance on one foot, hold a head stand, lip my tail na dolphin dive, float fon my back, gaze at the rubber ducks glued to the ceiling beams and kick my way across the pool The coven and I conduct our research, finding new ways to move. Each of us gently, instinctively, ‘makes room for one another, We imag: in, for once, that noone can tell uwhat tedowith our bodies. Read Like the Win fi Tine Jowon ‘The Belles Lettres Papers By Chaves Simmons Fin. 1987 [Now this was a real ibrary-sale fing! a satirical novel that skewers the inner workings ofa fictional book review that seems an awful lot like The New York ‘Times Book Review, written by someone ho was, for years, an editor at The New York Times Book Review (He took early retirement after the first two chapters ‘were published in The Nation, and later said, “I made up the facts, but nat the spirit ot? Asendup of the stil, starchy world of 19805 literary eriticism may not sound appealing, but “The Belles Lettres lustrtion by Abort Terao Papers” is spiky, delicious fun, brim ‘ming with barely veiled characters and plenty of publishing scandal, The Times reviewed the book under the headline “anyone We Know?" saying, “The tone is knowing and satirical, with a vengeful edge, and the jokes are ofthe iw” variety = lots of references to authors and eit ies known mainly to other authors and crities, lots of keenly honed barbs and ingling cles? Read if you like: Book jndasiry novels such as “The Man on the Third Floor” by “Anne Bernas; “Three Martini Lunch; I Susame Rindells and “Te Accident” by Chris Pavone Available from: Your local lina. @Post-Normal fy Oevic Wallace Wel One grim climate lesson from Sm widce once sae the Canadian wildfires: For all our is plans to control emissions, ine ne humans are no longer fully in charge. radian fies” he says. “We've sheet of any parti butaccording to some tabulations, in 2021 wikfires in North America and Eurasia contributed more carbon dioxide to the 6 72023atmosphere than any nation but China, the United States and India. And the toxic smoke exhaled from those fires increas ingly travels elsewhere too, now regularly choking the air and blotting out the sun ‘ot just of cites built into nearby wild land but of major concrete megalopolises whole continents — or even oceans — sway. Whose responsibility is that? Tf the aoth century taught us the per versity of aggressive fire suppression the ast is already teaching us the limits of that lesson A firefighting approach based onthe principle that hsmans and human settlements should be protected bur that otherwise forests should be allowed to burn is sensible ifthe aim isto reduce property damage andloss of fife But ifthe costs to human health of wildfire smoke ae lagger than from the fires themselves, should the goal be realibated? Could it be? Ifthe aim is to manage the health of the planet by limiting the emission of ear bon from wildfire, whar kind ofapproach does that require? I it even possible? In California, the record: seting fire season ‘of 2020, which produced five ofthe state's seven largest fres in modern history, ako entirely erased ts emissions gains overthe previous 6 years — putting twice asmuch carbon into the atmosphere as had been saved by ll ofthe state's decarbonization policies from 2003 t0 2019 ‘Canada has gargantuan per-capita car boon footprint, in fact by some measures larger than that of the United States. But its not itself singularly to blame forthe changes unfurling in its own remote for ests orcapableof truly controling the new ‘megatires that result Partly this sa simple matter of scale CCanada isthe worlds second Largest coun tuy, with a population roughly a quarter the size of Russa, which Americans often conceiveas avast expanse of uninhabited tundra. The 4th parallel is often thought fas Canada'ssouthem bourelary, bat hall of Canadians lve south oft, clustered just inthe little oureropping wedge of Ontar io and Quebec tucked between Michigan and Maine. All tol, it's estimated that 85 percent of Canadians live within 150 miles of the US. border ~ a though 284 rillion Americans all lived south of Los Angeles and Tampa, with the whole rest ofthe country untrammeled wilderness effectively et free to burn anytime light ning struck or a match was dropped ora poiver line fll Eouf order Lier emg” But fire controls also growing harder because the fires themselves are chang. ing. They produce such thick walls of smoke now that tanker planes some times ean’ fly into them; they throw tembers over what were once consid cred unerassable fire breaks; they burn and smolder underground through win. ter; they get so hot that firefighters risk second-degree burns just approaching them, “The most powerful frefighting ‘equipment that humans have — Canadair planes that cost roughly 35 million each and drop zo bathtubs worth of waterata time — can extinguish fies with an inten: sity of up to 10,000 kilowatts per meter offieine. Heney Mance wrote recently in The Financial Times. “Today's mege- fires are a different order of magnitude, sometimes exceeding 100,000 kilowatts per meter” — 10 times as intense, Water dumped from above can evaporate before it reaches the ground “The megafires routinely produce whole now fire-weather systems including what are called pyrocumulonimbus clos, laced with lightning and whipped by tr. rnadoes, which ean shoot toxic aerosols all the way through the troposphere into the lower stratosphere. It was long believed ‘that only woleane eruptions were capable this. twasn't untl1998 that scien tists discovered pyrocumuloniminis clouds frommegafresdoingittoo.So far this year in Canada, there have been 90 of ther, “They can't stop these fires?” says the fire historian Steve Pyne. “I mean, they could have 50,000 firefighters there now and i's not going to change it. We could have 200 more artankers. Arethey going to be able to stop these fires that are sing? No" In “Under a White Sky,” the writer Elizabeth Kolbert memorably posed the paradox of climate adaptation, in which the disruption ofthe natural world seems to require farther interventions, this way If there istobe an answerto the problem of eontral, is going ta be more control But che specter of hundreds of new fires raging near the Canadian Aretie ~ or in Russian Siberia orthe Australian bush —is aureminder that when it comes to rolling climate change, total control, atleast, may be anlluion although one on which we have intuitively erected our hopes for nav igang a hotter future “Humans have always moved ata di ferent pace than the natural world Val lant says. "But suddenly there's syncing up, with the natural world now moving asfast or faster than weare— faterthan humans, faster than technology, faster than history” In the past, he says, “we've had awe don’t negotiate with terrorists atctude with nature — when it did things that we didnt like, we suppressed them, Fire is now foreing us to negotiate Negotiate with whom, though? In recent years, warming posed a number of thorny questions about responsibilty and sovereignty ina time of planetary er sis: who might pay for climate damages punishing the global South but produced by emissions from the global North how a net-zero world might respond to a rogue nation’s recklessly burning fossil fuels: what could prevent single nations from undertaking adaptations that might wreck the microclimate of their neigh bors: what damage could be wrought by A single billionaire’ undertaking global geoengincering scheme or a single ter rorist cell torpedoing it These climate morality plays later ur intuitive sense that humans, howev er irresponsible, remain in charge. But ‘while emissions do control the planet's thermometer, the natural worlds already bushwchacking its own path through the hotter future, "We're riding the tiger at this point” Pyne says. “I think all of us axe going to have toaccepe there's going tobealot more fire”# ”Eat By Ligaya Mishon The Old Ways: Ahummus recipe first written down hundreds of years ago has an enduring simplicity. We do not eat quite ike our ancestors, Gone from our tables are the roasted hedgehogs of Stone Age Britain and the flamingo tongues of encient Rome. Nor do weknow if decades from now, ourdescen ddants will toast Pop-Tarts and dust steaks with edible gold. Or ifthe future climate will support agriculture of any kind, oF seenario explored in \ytimely novel, “Land 1 72023 ‘of Milkand Honeys eomingin September, inwhich deadly smog kill off neatyallthe ‘earth's crops forcing people to subsist on mung: bean powder: But there are dishes that have endured, ‘One evening this p Zayan, who runs the Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn, made a recipe that dates at least as far back as the 13th cen: tury. One version appears in a Syrian spring, Lucien Photograph by Chis: cookbook from that time bythe historian pn al‘Adeem with the most sublime of ted from the Arabic as "Win t's Heart With Delectable You take chickpeas, hard and dry, and boil them until thei skins loosen and they eveal themselves, tender litle hulks with souls of butter: Maybe you think of the agth-century Persian poet Rumi's tikes traparable ofa chickpea that rises from the por’ seething depths to accuse the cook of torture — only for the cook to reply calmly tha this is the path to a higher destiny: t0“become food and mingle with lie Then you mash the chickpeas in a swirl of tahini, olive of, vinegar, spices and herbs, and fold in a crush of nuts, seeds and preserved lemon, sour-bright and tasting ofaged sun. This should yield a spread thick enough “to hold its shape when picked up with a piece of bread” the food historian Nawal Nasrallah writes oner blog, In My Iraqi Kitchen, ‘You might recognize this as hummus. Notably absent from the recipe is garlic. despite is ubiquity inthe cooking of the Arab world atthe time. Is not certain exactly when galie was introduced to the dish: Nasrallah notes that there isno doc: "umentation of hummus recipes after the sath century until the late 19th century ‘A Lebanese cookbook from 4885 names zzrlic among the ingredients, asifit was already a given, For Zayan,a Frenchman of Egyptian and Syrian descent, the history, however incomplete, i inextricable from the re ipe. He often returns tothe theme of oi: gins and the vagaries of fate Las fall, for instance, a five-weok festival atthe Invis: ible Dog devoted to the nin of ar and food featured eakes, by Spencer Merolla, made of coal ashes ane a photograph, by IRof people sharing pienicon opposite sides ofthe border fence separating the United States and Mexico. Zayan’s Jew- ish parents were expelled from Egypt 1936 — his mother from Cairo his father from Alexandria — and later met in France When asked how is family ended up Pars, he answered simply, "Because that was the frst tain we could take: Zayan served the medieval hummus, somewhat checkily, at a meal otherwise dedicated to gatic, as pat ofthe Salle & “Manger dinner series that he hosts at his apartment, down the street from the Invis: ibe Dog, Garlic can hide other lavors, he tells me. Here, instead, the nuts — he uses hazelnuts, for morebuttriness, and pista chios, with their hint of eamphor— fortify the chickpeas in theircarthyhef, so close tothe richness of meat ‘We thinkwe know whata recipe is. We can picture it lst of ingredients, num- bbered steps. And yet for much of human civilization, recipes were rarely written down, and of those that were, almost recipes were rarely written down,andof those that were, almostnone have survived, none have survived. A few clay tablets from Babylon, circathe rth century BC. offer sketches of stews with minimalist instretions:"You prepare water.Youadd fa" The frst Western tex that could be called a cookbook, "De Re Coquinaria” (The Art of Cooking”, is typically ered ited to Apieius, a Roman epicure who lived in the frst century A.D, although the manuscript might not have been com: piled until 300 to 400 years later. All those centuries from which no recipes remain, people were cooking, of course, A recipe existed only in the doing, the way thatthe "Odyssey" once existed ‘only in the telling, made new each time, revised, embellished, is glory subject to the seemingly boundless human eapacity for error and its counterpart, invention, Pinned down on the page, arecipe igus promise. As Rebecea May Johnson asks in her recently released! memoir manifesto, “Small Fires:An Epicin the Kitchen"*Can kanowa recipe without cooking it” Online people so often complain about having to read a story when all they want isthe recipe. But without the story how ‘would you know that the recipe has heen researched, obsessively tinkered with loved? How eould you be sure that the person giving it to you is someone you Time: 20 inten Ys expr tazelats 1 ablespon coriander seeds 44 expsheted pistachios eased 385 eupscooked dined chihpeas Toren rm 8 ness red thickens or from wo L-onnee ‘asehickpe| Ne expalieod pas more ordeiing 2 ablsponsfeshlenanuce, plas more toane see Tip Ye tblepuon ground uma plas more Foespeining 15 teaspoons re vinegar Ss eupicecld water fragront and te shire begin spt, 34 minutes, then Wansfer to plate ined wth ‘paper towel When they reco gently rub stand scart skins 2.Usig the some pan, toast the craw, csionly, ntl agra, abost 2 mirtos, then remove ram het to ool sight Aho soods will cnt to toast, $4 mhtes, Ade mit ond trogen, 4. Act te chickens to the mien tha food processor reserving honor gorssh Thonadlthe ahi, ale ol lemen uc, he rch of salt Stor puna. nd gradual odd thaice water, spesh by splash uni ceamy and smooth Teste and add mere lemon ie 5 Spoon ne hur toa plate. ty et, see pining bog and experiment wth tere ave ol dust with sumoc, ends ih ew theca on op. Tip ste of ean jie, you ean se sf a reserved mon (orelersoymade ‘sth minimal a, anc oa a plot ois a ao 4p Aap from aio Zeya ® ”Where did it come from? More than three years into the ppandemie and old milions of peopl dead, that question about the Covid-t9coronavirs remains controversial and fraught, with facts sparkling aida tange of anak yscs and hypothetical ike Christmas iightsstrung.ona dark, thorny ee. One school of though holds thatthe vss, known to seienceas SARS. CoV spied into umans from 2 nonhuman animal probably in the Hanan Sea food Wholesale Market, messy emporium in Waban, China, brimming with fish, meats and wife onsale as fod. Another school argues thatthe viuswaslaboratonyengineredt infect, humans and caus them harm ~ a bicwrespoa and was possibly devised in a "shadow project” sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army of China. third school more moderate tan the second butabo impiating laboratory work sug gests that the virus goin is frst human vietin bby way ofan accident a the Wuhan Insite of Virology (W:1V), a eescarch complex onthe co ern side ofthe city. maybe after well meaning but reckless genetic manipulation tat made it more dangerous to people Ifyou feel confused by these possibilities, undecided, suspicious of overconfident asser. tions — oF just tired ofthe whole subject ofthe pandemic sind whatever fie bug has cased it be assured that you arent the only one Some contraians say that it doesn matter, the source ofthe virus. What mater, they Sis how we cope with the catastnphe it has brought, theillnessand deatht continues to cause. Those contrarians are wrong, It does matter, Research priorities, pandemic preparedness arosnd the ‘word health policies and publi opinion toward Scicnce itself will be lastingly affected by the answerto the oigin question ~ifwe ever get efnitive answer But much of the evidence tha might provide thatanswer has ether beealost ors sil naval ale ~ los because of feiluesto gather relevant material promptly unavailable because ofintran sigence apd concealment paniculslyonthe part Of Chinese officaidom at several level. 2 72023 Take the naturalspillover hypothesis, forinstance.andassume that the virus passed to humans froma wild animal — maybe a raccoon dog'a fexlike canine) ‘ora Malayan porcupine ~ somewhere inthe Hua snan market, To test that hypothesis, you would ‘want samples ofblood, feces or mucus taken from the raccoon dogs. porcupines and other wildlife that languished, caged and doomed, in the mar ket. You would sereen those samples for signs oF the virus. I'you found the virus itself or atleast Srablebitsof ts genome, you would then makea ‘comparative analysis of genomes, including some from the earliest human cases, to deduce whether people got the virus from the wildlife orvice vers ‘But you can’t do that, because whatever ra: coon dogs or poreupines or other wild animals ‘were onsale inthe market during December 2019, hhad vanished by Jan. 1, 2020, On that date, the market was closed by order of Chinese authori ties, wth no (reported effort to sample the most suspect forms of wildlife Or take the lab-engineered-bioweapon hypothesis, as recently offered in an article in “The Sunday Times of Lonalon. The two Times reporters cited unidentified “US. investigators” who “scrutinized top-secret intereepted com: ‘munications” and concluded that the Chinese nniltary was supporting a covert project to devel ‘op a weaponized coronavirus, The article also posited related vaecine efor, to protect China's populace once the killer vis was unleashed on, the world isa riveting narrative. The viruseng: neering aceurred, according to this account, at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The reporters lide’ name their intelligence sources or supply evidence ro make theirallegations conerete, but ifthey did, i would be explosive news Or take the lableak scenario, some version ‘of which point accusingly ata nonprofit organ zation in New York, Ecolfeath Alliance, and its collaborative relationship with Dr. Zhengli Shia senior researcher atthe WAN. Shi and her team study coronaviruses, especially those carried by bats, extracting fragments of viral RNA ithe ‘molecule in which coronavirus genomes ae writ ten) and occasionally live virus, rom samples of {guano and other bodily maria, and assembling ‘whole genome sequences, lke jigsaw puzzles, from the fragments, They perform experiments, sometimes combining an clement of one virus with the backbone of another, to learn how that clement might function in the wild; and they publish scientific papers, warning which bat viruses could pose a threat to humans. What if researcher or technician under Sh’ leadership, handling a virus very much like SARS-CoV--, became infected by accident and then spread the infection to others? That question became, from the early months of the pandemic, a suspicion and then a hypothesis and then an accusation venov the rade in claims and countercimas remains brisk. Last month, ina Substack newslet- ter called Publi, three authors asserted — citing unnamed “US. government officials” — that one ofthe frst people infected with SARS.CoV'2 vasa scientist named Ben Hu, fom Shislab, Tatasser tion was significant. and important true, but no proof or identified soureing sofar support Ten Gays ater, the Ofice ofthe Dircctor of National Inteligence released as equired bya law passed three months earlier a declassified report outin- ing whatever was known tothe US. Intelligence Community about potential links between the ‘Wahan Insite of Virology and the origins ofthe pandemic. The report concluded, among other things that W.LV. personnel had collaborated at times on coronavinis work with eientists assoc ated withthe People’s Liberation Army, but that (so far as availble evidence showed) sich work involved “no known viruses that could plausibly be a progenitor of SARS-CoV-2" And then on July the Hose Select Subeom: rmitee onthe Coronavirus Pandemic, ed by Rep- resentative Brad Wenstrup,an Ohio Republican, convened a hearing at which he and colleagues interrogated two scientists, Kristian Andersen and Robert Garry, about their authorship of an influential 2020 paper that appeared inthe jour ral Nature Medicine. That paper was tiled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2." The tenor of the hearing was foretold by its own announced tile: “Investigating the Proximal Origin of a Cover-Up. and the proceedings tht cay consist ced of accxsation and defense, without shedding any new light, let alone yielding certitude about the origin of the virus ertitude is an elusive goal and a high pre sumption, even for science, even fora director of national intelligence, even forthe chairman ofa select congressional subcommitte. Philos ophers have recognized that, and so have nov- elists and poets. "Iwas of three minds’ wrote ‘Wallace Stevens, “Like a tre/ta which there are three blackbirds” Inthe poem, Stevens found 13 different ways of looking aa blackbird There are at east that many ways of viewing the origin of SARS.CoY.2, and to do justice to the question, youl ned, like him, to hold several possibilities in your mind at atime, How you regard «blackbird or anorigin hypoth esis may be influenced by where you're coming from Thats an old truth, but Iwas reminded oft during conversation with Jesse Bloom. an evo- Iutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, and one of the best-quslfied among those who argue that the ab leak hypoth esisdeserves robust investigation, Bloom studies the evolution of viruses, for two reasons: It hap pens fast, and therefore illuminates evolution ia_goneral, and it has large implica tions for public health, ‘When I spoke with him backin Feb- ruary 2021, a year into the pandemic, and asked about the origin question, Bloom said, "I think what you have is alot of people strongly defaulting to their prior beliefs” Seientsts who study zoonotic diseases ‘those that spill over from nonhiiman animals into people) might bbe inclined to assume a natural origin, Scien: tists who have long argued against the risks of "gain of function” research (experimental work exploring the evolutionary eapacities of. Potentially dangerous pathogens! might reacily ‘assume lb leak. National security experts with strong views ofthe oppressive, secretive Chi nese government might lean toward seenarios involving Chinese malfeasance and coverup. ‘More recently, Bloom told me that his own ir” inclination would be toward a natural spillover. “But you certainly wouldn't think it's, like, 98.99 percent the most key explanation he said, adding, "There could be other possibilities” ‘That gave me pause to consider my own pri- ‘ors, Forthe past 4 years, I've written nonfiction stration by Jules Jen about the natural ‘worldand the sciences that study it, especially ecology and evolutionary biology. During the fist half of hat. my attention ‘went mainly to large, visible ereatres like bears, crocodiles and bumblebees and to wild places Tike the Amazon ungle andthe Sonoran Desert. came tothe subject of emerging virusesin 1999, during National Geographic assignment, when ‘walked for 10 days through Ebola-virus habitat in a Central African forest. Later I spent five years writing a book about zoonotic diseases land the agents that eause them, including the SARS virus, the earlier killer coronavirus now ‘often called SARS-CoV, which emerged in 2002 tnd spread in human travelers from Hong Kong to Singapore, Toronto and elsewhere, alarming, experts deeply. Scientists traced SARS-CoV-1t0 palm civets,a ype of catlke wild carnivore sold 'sfood in some South China markets and restau: rants, But the eivets proved to be intermediate hosts, and its natural host was later identified as horseshoe bats, ‘The story of SARS is only one chapter inthe saga of dangerous new vises emerging from animals. The grim tale of how HAL. got into humans and ease the AIDS pandemics anoth- cr ~ tale known partly by inference and partly by molecular evidence, and taceable back to a ele blood-mingling event between a person anda chimpanzee, probably hunter and hunted, in the southeastern corner of Cameroon around the tart ofthe zoth century. Human contact with nonhuman animals accounts For our infers 2s wel, which usually emerge from wild aquatic birds Hendra vrs. Auta, comesto humans from bats, generally through an intermediate host horses. Machupo virus n Bolivia abides rodents when notnfectingpeople.Hantan vis, discovered in Korea, and its relative Sin Nombre virus, the American Southwest also spill over from rodents. Nipah virus, in Bangladesh and Some surrounding counties, comes from bats. Its exereted in bat feces, salva and urine, and when certain rut bats wit date pal res that arc being tapped fr their sugary sap ~ a estar in Bangladesh — the virus contaminates the sap, ‘whichis soe rsh onthe street to local cussom. ers, some of whom die. These cases and many oshers like them are among my own priors, and no doubt they do incline me toward the idea of natural spilver. Ithappens fen somcines wilt dire consequences, Research acidents have occurred t00,inthe history of dangerous new viruses, and longtime concerns over such accidents constitte the pe 08 of some who favor the lab-leak hypothesis for Govid. Such accidents might number in the hundreds orthe thousands, ependinggon where you put the threshold of significance and how you define “aceident.” There was an event that {probably reintroduced 1950s strain oinuen- 2ain97.causngthat year’s Mu pandemic, which Killed many thousands of people. anda 2004 nee- dle-stic injury ofa earful cients, Kelly War fk while she was doing Ebola esearch but she proved uninfected by Ebola. Iso in 2004, jst a yearaferthe global SARS scare, twoworksrsata virology lab in Bejing were independendy infect ex wih that views, which spread to nine people in total, one of whom died This followed two other singl-caselab-accient infections with SARS virus the previous year one i Singapore, one in Taiwan. ‘When the fist known eases of an “atypical pneumonia” began tring up at Wasa hospi tals in ate 2019, and then exploded into acoro- navi oubreakin early 2029, the location self seemed of in diferent ways, the priors that might incline one toward either «natural-ori- {gin explanation ora la-leak explanation, The potenti ab leak connection was eatestto note: ‘Thecity contained. research ait, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, with a wellknown labora tory devoted to coronavirus research. On the ‘ther hand, Waban was also a major nexus for “The New Yr Ths Mageine 23the significant national trade in wild animals for food, fur and traditional medicines (est mated at more than $70 billion annually), where such ereatutes, and the viruses they eary, were sold at many crowded markets ~ one of which Huanan, ly at or near the center of the spatial pattern of earliest known eases So, starting from simply those circumstances, was a lab accident more “likely” than a natural spillover? And under either of those scenarios, how much did Chinese-government pressure and obseurantism constrain the availability of evidence forassessing one orthe ather? Because there exists no definitive account — yet —of the particular events that delivered SARS-CeV2 into the human population me theirviews.as probabilities, based on ven experts are foreed to and circumstance influenced variously by prior beliefs as to how the world works, Inassessing the probabilities for yourself, you might want to step back from the noise, anger, vitriol and politickation that have clouded the controversy and focus on the evidence we do have. To that end it mayhelp to note some events inthe order they occurred, n Jan. 1, 2020, in Shanghai, just 1 days after first reports of the outbreak in Wuhan circulated globally, a team of scientists led by Yong-Zhen Zhang of Fudan University released a draft genome sequence of the novel virus through a website called Virologicalorg, The genome was provided by Edward C. Holmes, a British Australian evolutionary biologist based in Sydney and a colleague of Zhang's on the ‘genome-assembly project. Holmes is Famous among virologists for his work on the evol tion of RNA viruses (including coronaviruses, his prstinely bald head and his mordant ean lor. Everyone inthe field knows him as Eddie The posting went up at 05 a.m Scotland time, at which point the curator of the site there in Edinburgh, a professor of molecular evolution named Andrew Ramat, was aler- and ready to speed things along, Heand Holmes composed brief introductory note to the genome: “Please feel fre todowaload, data? it sai, They knew that “data” isp ral, bc they were in a usry Immediately, Holmes and a small group of colleagues sett analyzing the genome for clues abou the vius'sevolationaey history. They drew fon a background of known coronaviruses and their own understanding ofhow such ruses take shape inthe wild (as reflected in Holmes's 2009, book, “The Evolution and Emergence of RNA Viruses") They knew that coronavirus evolution can occur rapidly, driven by frequent mutation single-leter changes it genome sections with another virus, when both simultaneoush ‘and by a roughly 30,000-letter by recombination one virus swapping plicate ina single ec Darwinian natural seleetion’s acting on those random changes. Holmes traded thoughts with Rambaut in Edinburgh, a friend of three decades, and with two other colleagues: Kristian Ander sen at Seripps Research in La Jolla, Calif; and Robert Garry atthe Tulane University School of‘Medicine in New Orleans. lan Lipkin, of Colum: bia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, joined the huddle later. These five would form a sort of long-distance study group, aimed toward publishing a paper on SARS-CaV-»'s genome and its key origin Holmes, Andersen and theireolleagues recog: nized the virus’ similarity to bat viruses, with more study, sawa pairof “notable features” that zzave them pause. Those features two short blips fof genome, constituted avery small percentage of the whole, but with potentially high significance for the virus’ ability to grab and infect human cells. They were technical-sounding elements, familiar to virologists, that are now part of the Covid-origin vernacular: a furin cleavage site (FCS), as well as an unexpected receptor binding domain (RED). Allviruseshave RBDs, which help them attach tocells an FCS sa feature that helps certain viruses get inside. The original SARS virus, which terrified scientists worldwide but caused only about 800 deaths, didn't resemble the now coronavirs in either respect. How had SARS-CoV'-2 come to tae this form? “Andlersen and Holmes were genuinely con: ccemed, at fist, that it might have been engi- neered. Were those two features deliberate aud -ons, inserted into some coronavirus back bone by genetic manipulation intentionally mak ing the virus more transmissible and pathogenic amvong humans? Ithad tobe considered, Holmes called Jeremy Farrar a disease expert who was then dector ofthe Welleome Tru, foundation in London that supports health research. Farrar saw the point and quickly arranged a conference call among an international group of scientists todiseuss the genome’s puzdingaspects and the possible scenarios fits origi. The group inch fed Robert Garry at Tulane and a dozen other people, most of them distinguished European or British scientists with relevant expertise ike Rambautin Edinburgh, Marion Koopmans the Netherlands and Christian Drosten in Germany. Also on the eal were Anthony Fasc, then head ofthe National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Francis Collins, then director ofthe [National Institutes of Healthand therefore Faves boss. Thisis the famous Feb, all on which ~ if youbelieve some eritial voices — Fauci and Gol: lins persuaded the others tosuppress any notion that the virus might have been engineered. “The narrative going around was that Fauci tolds, Change our mind, yada, yada, yada, yada ‘We ere paid off” Holmes said to me. "I's com: plete lexpletivel” ‘Andlersen concurs. “There is no universe in which this would even be possible,” he told me. Recently based on selections of thei private email and Slack traffic made publi, Andersen and his colleagues have been aecused of concealment and dissembling Their messages, rites contend, prove that even as they were deeply concerned in private about the engincered-virusorlab-release Holmes, Andersen and their colleagues saw two ‘notable features’ that gave them pause. The original SARS virus didn’t resemble the new coronavirus in either respect. How had SARS-CoV-2 come to possibilities, they were striving to keep both out of public discussion, But as the researchers describe it, these apparent contradictions were simply a reflection of their fast-evolving views. After initial concern thatthe receptorbinding domain in SARS-CoV'-2 might bbea sign of engineering forinstance. they learned soon afterthe Feb. conference call of a very sim: ilar RBD ina coronavirus that infected pangolis, twas detected from apublie database by abioin formatcian in Houston, Matt Wong, and posted on the Virological website, where it eventually ame tothe group's atention. It shoved that such an BD had evolved in the wild and might well have gotten into SARS-CoV-2 by recombination, the natural gene-swapping process, Andersen and the others also recognized that frin cleavage sites occur naturally in other coronaviruses, like the MERS virus, though not as so far detected) fn any other member of the subgenus to which SARS-CoV‘ belongs. Such neve data led to a new conclusion, in ‘what Andersen called, on Twitter, “a clear exam: ple of the scientific process” Sixteen days after the conference eal, they posted a preprint (a daft, not yer peer-reviewed) of theie paper, and four weeks later it appeared in the jour: ral Nature Medicine — this was the one titled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2" Ander: sen and his co-authors stated their conclusion, at the top: “Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV2 is not a laboratory constructor a porposefally manipulated views! That stl let the possibility ofa natural virus, evolved in an animal hasta passed into humans by zoonotic transfer ~ or perhaps a natural virus acciden: tally leaked? Near the paper's end they stated something more nuanced: that while intentional engineering of the virus could be ruled out, “it is currently impossible to prove or disprove the ‘other theories ofits origin deseribed here.” That suid, they added, “we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible” take this form? ‘One other coronavirus quickly came to light as the closest Ikaown match to SARS-CoV. ‘This wasn’t actualy a virus “inthe flesh ~ in physical presence. It was a genome sequence, assembled from RNA fragments extracted froma fecal swab sample of bat cap. tured in amine several years eatierin 2013, The ‘mine was in Yunnan Province, 1,200 miles south west of Wuhan. The genome was 962 percent identical to the SARS-CaV-2 genome as sampled from people during the early daysolthe pander: ic. That degree of similarity — or a 38 percent difference ~ suggests a common virus ancestor some years ago and independent evolution in the years since. So this represented a cousin to SARS-CoV-2, notits progenitor. ‘The work of sampling the bat and assembling. the sequence (rst justa portion, then, with bet: ter technology, nearly the whole thing) had been led by Zhengli Shi, at the Wuban Institute of| Vieology. Shi and her team labeled the sequence RRaTG13, coding the facts that iteame from an individual of Rhinolophssalfinis (Ra) the inter mediate horseshoe bat, captured in that mine in “Tongguan(TG),atown in the Mojang district oF Yunnan, in 2013. RaTGr; has attained renown, not just because it constituted strong evidence of SARS-CoV'2's ancestry in bat viruses but also because the Mojiang mine fguresin some ofthe ‘more lurid scenarios fora lab leak origin Part of what makes the very name Mojiang, sccm lutid is that in 2012, three workers atthe rine died of unidentified respiratory infections alter days of underground labor there, What got imotheirlungsand killed them? Was it afungus! ‘Wasitavirus? Some lab-leak proponents suggest The New York Thnes Magazine 2that those deaths, deseribed in two obseure med: ical theses written in Mandarin, represent the eatliesknoven fatalities froma virus ~ possibly RaTGr3 ~ that either already was or in Shi’ lab became, SARS-CoV2 or its immediate progen- itor that is, something far more similar than a cousin) The inference is that Sh’s team, a year after the mine workers died. may have taken the virus back to Wuban. But the Mojiang deaths were also reported in 2014 inthe journal Emerg: ing Infectious Diseases by scientists who found an entirely diferent virus, also potentially dan _gerous because it had similarities to Nipah and Hendra viruses, and was carried inthe Mojiang ‘mine by rats, not bats. One takeaway: Sample the ratsand bats and other fauna ina mine, and you ‘might well finda variety of virises you wouldn't want in your lungs. Another problem with the RaTG13 seenario: las genome differs from that of SARS.CoV:2 at ‘more than 1.100 seattered positions throughost its ‘genome. To engineer SARS-CoV-2into existence ‘bystarting with RaTGx3 would have been unre sonable and impractial accordingto Holmesand ther experts in coronavirus genomies. Further ‘more it’s important to remember that RaTG13, was. genome sequence, nota lve virus: It was information, nota biological entity. Coaxing a vis that les darmant in bat guano to growin a call eulture sfc and usualy the efor fails Zhengli Shi told Jon Cohen, a senior correspon den forthe journal Science, inheranswertoaset ofemaled questions, that she never grew RaTGi3, inherlab, She told me the same thing daring a two-hour conversation by Zoom: "No, no, We couldn’ culture any ofthe simple from this cave at Mojiang” ‘Shi was in Shanghai for a conference on the night of Dec. 30, 2019, as she explained it to ime, when word reached her about a mysterious respiratory illness spreading dangerowslyamong people back in Wuhaa, Preliminary ab results suggested a coronavirus — not SARS virus, but something similar ~ might be the cause. She was asked to help identify the thing. She put her lab teamtoworkon thatimmediately andtooka train ‘backto Wuhan the next day. Within hours, her ab had received partial sequence from another lab Herfirstinstinet was to compare it with sequences of viruses they had worked on themselves and we found it’s diferent” she told me."So, the afer noon ofDec. 31 Laleady know it’s nothing related towhat we have done in ou laboratory” Some erties, she was well aware, had sugges ed thather urgency in checking her own records was an implicit admission of error or guilt. “I's ‘normal! was her response, ‘Jon Cohen mentioned the possibilty of lab leakina report published in Science on Jan 31, 2020, noting that not all the earliest confirmed teases had some direet link o the Huanan ma ket. Fourteen of the first 41, according to one study, did not. Might those people have picked 2% 72023 up their infee~ tions somewhere else, and maybe rot from an animal at al? After deseribing a couple of vivid but unsupported allegations, including the idea that SARS.CoV-2 resembled a snake virus and snakes were soldat Wuhan vet ‘markets, Cohen added, "The Wuhan Institute of Virology, which i the premier lab in China that studies bat and human coronaviruses, has also ‘come under fre.” Concerns had been voiced, he ‘wrote, about the security ofthe W.LV's biosafety procedures and facilites Evidence regarding the origin of the virus, part from what could be rea from the genome self remained searce during thse early months. Inplace of evidence, there was the weight of sc entific authority on one side and the volume of ‘tery on the other. On Feb. 19, 2020, an open letter appeared online in The Lancet, a British journal, signed by 27 scientists, some of them teminent senior figures in virology and public health, others researchers inthe ful heat of ds tinguished careers, was statement of solidarity with Chinese scientists and heath professionals, who were then on the front fine in efforts to understand and control the ‘virus. The letter was organized by Peter Daszak 4 British American disease ecologist, president of EcoFfeatth Alliance and a collaborator with ‘Zhengli Shi. Besides voicing support for Chinese colleagues, it said: "We stand together o strong: ly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covideag does not have @ natural origin” That expression of confidence, so soon, would proveto be countemproductve, and the phrase“conspiraey theories” landed like bacon grease thrown into aucampfite, causing skeptics to are and sizzle ‘The lab-leak idea, meanwhile, took hold in some politcal ctcles, partly because itdovetiled with attitudes toward the Chinese government, itsrepressive policies and its penchant for secre «-Inlate January 2020, even before Cohen's Jan. 3tartcl, The Washington Times ran an artile suggesting inks between the W.LV. anda covert ‘bioweapons program of the Chinese military, ‘The article (ater walked back with an editor's note) was based largely on assertions by a for: ‘mer Israeli militaryintllgence officer. Several stron by ules Jonweeks afterward, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkan- ss voiced a similar suspicion about the Wuhan lab on Fox News, “We don't ave evidence that this disease originated there” Cotton sad, “but because of China's duplicity and dishonesty from the beginning, we need to at least ask the question” Soon enough, Donald Trump's mind began to change. The president spoke support: ively about China throughout the early weeks of the pandemic and on Feb. 7 said of President Xi Jinping, “Ithinkhe's handled it really well" Then the winds shifted, and four months later Trump was inciting his rally crowds by calling Covid-9 “he kung fia" Te attractions of the lab-eak idea weren't entirely partisan. Jamie Metal is an author and politcal commentator who worked in the Clinton ‘udministration and, atone point as a Senate com: imitee staff member working closely with Senator Joe Biden. Meta has blindingly hmineseent and liberal-inged résumé that includes a Ph.D. from Oxford, .D. from Harvard Law Schoo, a senior fellowship atthe Atlantic Counciland 3 ironman triathlons. former member ofthe W.H10. expert advisory committee on human genome editing. [Metal called early on foran investigation into the origins of the pandemic, including. in his words, “the distinct possibilty this crisis may stem from a research related incident in Waban.” Having spoken up about this in the early ‘months of 2020, Metal encountered resistance that seems to have startled and aggrieved him. When [was seeing this diferent story. he told ime, “and I started speaking publicly about it, friends of mine would say two things” The fst was, "You'rea progressive, lieral Democrat” — but— “you're delivering message tha’shelpful toTrump" Implication: Meta should get back on the Fight sce of scrimmage. The second sort of comment, he says, was:"Who the Fare you? You have all these senior scientists and Nobel laure: ates and others who are saying it eomes from nature? Who the Fare you to say that, based on your analysis and your deductive reasoning, you have adaltional questions? ‘The proselytizing by Meta and others who saw diferent story” from natural spillover~ plus the sing of Trump's message, pus the prevaling cul tural disposition to distrust experts, plus no doubt other factors ~ had an elfeet on public opinion and media attention, ifnot on scientific consensus. According to the Pew Research Center, polling Americans in March 2020, 43 percent believed thatthe virus emerged naturally against essthan opercent who thought it eame froma lab deve ope either by accident o intentionally. By Sep: tember 2020, another poling organization found the natural versus ab options embraced almost equally. By June 2021, a Politico-Harvard poll put the lab origin idea ahead bya two-to-one margin: 52 percent of Americans versus 28 percent ‘Metal himself has maintained the somewhat agnostie position that accidental rel possibility but not the only possibility, In his eventual March 2023 testimony to Congress, the urged “fully examining all relevant origins hypotheses, obviously including a lab origin, but also @ market origin, which some experts respect believe to be more probable” Among those experts, he cited Michael Worobey an evo lationary virologist atthe University of Arizona, Worobey is a Canadian-born, Oxford-educat- ced scientist who spesles mildly and sometimes entertains provocative theories. One such theory was O.PY, the “oral polio vaccine” hypothesis for the origin of the H.LVAIDS pandemic. 1 first interviewed Worobey a dozen years ago to hear about that. The OY. hypothesis asserted thatthe virus (HLLY-1, Group M) was put into humans, inadvertently, ving reckless trials of an oral polio vaeeine on unstispecting African “volunteers” including hundreds of thousands of children. The vaccine had been developed in chimpanzee cell eultares ~ so the hypothesis claimed — and contaminated with a chimpan: zee virus that beeame H.LV.-1-M., In early 2000, Worobey left his doctoral studies in Oxford, New toawarzone in the Democratic Republic ofthe ‘Congo and spent weeks collecting chimpanzee clung inthe forest to test that hypothesis is senior partner on this wildcat expedition ‘was Willam Hamilton, a famous Oxford biologist ‘who considered the O.PV. hypothesis plausible Worobey and Hamilton collected their chimpan: zee samples, wth help from local forest guides, and then serambled out of Kisangani, Worobey ‘with his arm ina sling from a badly infected for: est wotind, Hamilton desperately ill with malaria ‘They reached England, and Hamilton died soon afterward from complications, The samples got lostin baggage handling, then found then tested negative or the chimpanzee virus except for one sample that proved inconclusive. Such arethe labore and frustrations of seience Worobey, along with other scientists, drawing. (on other evidence, eventually showed that the ‘oralvaccine hypothesis was false, Open-mind- edness toward a provocative hypothesis, and a ‘commitment to confirm itor rete it as the evi dence may dictate, are among his priors. With SARS-CoV-2, 20 yeas later, Worobey likewise felt inclined to give the provocative, heterodox hypothesis all due consideration Concerned by what he saw as premature dis ‘missal ofthe lab-leak possibility, he signed a public letter in spring 202, with 1 other scien tists, arguing that “greater clarity about the or gins ofthis pandemic is necessary and feasible achieve. We mus take hypotheses about both ural and laboratory spillovers seriously until wwe have sulfciet data” One of theletter’s other covsigners, in fact the first as listed, was Jesse loom, Worobey had helped initiate the letter, with emails to Bloom on March 21 of that year, including the suggestion, “Thave been thinking about something like a Perspective in Science fran Op-Ed in the NY Times” ‘The letter was initially drafted by Bloom and tweoothers Alina Chan, a molecular biologist who was an author of preprint in 2020 arguing that SARS.CoV'-2 was already well adapted to infect ing humans atthe start, raising questions about its provenance: and David Relman of Stanford, a distinguished microbiologist with a long-term concern about biosecurity issues and some gan offunction research, Others of the group contri uted input, ad the letter ran in Seience on May 14,2021, under the imperative ttle “Investigate the Origins of Covi 9" But from that pot, with passing months and more research, Worobey ‘would diverge from the most vocal afhis co-sign crs regarding what constitutes “sualicient data Strong tides of opinion were moving by spring 2021. An international team of scientist, recruited bythe World Health Organization ots joint W.H1.0.-China study ofthe origins of SARS- (CoV'2, had returned froma month in Wuhan and issuedits Phase 1 report, finding laboratory lak “extremely unlikely” That finding took criticism from Worobey, Bloom and their co-authors of the letterto Science, published weeks afterward. Even the director-general of the W.HLO, him- self, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, hoped for further investigation. Ata news conference ‘marking the report's publication, Tecros said, "As far as WHO. is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table” noting the need for contin: ued research. Noewithstanding Tedros's hopes, and mainly because of Chinese resistance there has been no offical Phase 2 follow-up study per se. Instead, the W.H.O. created a Scientific Advi sory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a body of disease scientists who will continue to study the origin of SARS.CoV-2 as wel as other dangerous new bugs, “Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for Covid at the W1L.O,, has been vocal about the barriers to progress. “There's very itd informa tion thac ean be accessed with regard tolab leak, with regard to breach of biosafety biosecurity, and that’s the problem” she told me recently. saying tha she had discussed the issue directly with Chinese ofcals. “That's whats frustrating: she added. "With that lack of information, you're left with these gaping holes” Popular articles espousing the lab-leak idea also began to blossom forth around this time, in magazines and newspapers and on web plat forms, In January 2021, New York magazine car ried a Covic-origin article by Nicholson Baker, who had lately published a book on American ‘bioweapons research in the early 1950s and his, frustrations with the Freedom of Information ‘Act, Baker now raised the “What if?” question about coronavirus research. In May 2021, Nich las Wade (who once worked for The New York ‘Times) published a long article in The Bulletin, of the Atomie Scientists (Cofinacd fae 42) The New York Thnes Magazine a«© THE GREAT TRESPASS, & Agroup of English activists are ‘4 ByBrooke Jarvis,fighting for the ‘right to roam’ — and the idea that nature is a common good. + Photographs by Muir VidlerThe signs on the gate atthe entrance to the path and along the edge othe reservoir were clea.“No svimming” they warned white eters ona red kground ‘Onachil mid- Api day in northwest England, with oe. gray clouds and ran inthe forecast the signs hadlyseemed necessary. But then people began arriving, by thedozens and then the hun deeds. Some walked only fom nearby Hayfield while others came by ten oF bus oF foot from many hours away. Ina Tong, tailing ine they ‘ramped up the hl beside the dam and around the shore ofthe reseri slipping in mau and mmping over pues. Above them rose ong. curving hill of open moorland its heather sti ‘sinter bron, When they came toa gephetweca {stone wall and a metal fence, they squeezed through it, one by one, slipping under stings of barbed wire toward the water below. ‘Onthe steep grassy bankahove the reserve, coat and sweaters came of revealing wet suits and swims. Thermoses of tea and hot choco late were eaied for quick access; someone had brought along abanged-ap trumpet with which to provide the appropriate fanfare. There were seasoned winter svimmers, people whobad to ses of breaking through ce fora dp, and com: pletenenbies deeidingasthe shivered whether this pancular symbolic sct was relly or them ‘There wasa7-year-ld who swam inakitbeanie witha purple pom-pom and a man with a York ‘hire accent who tad is wif, a mock horror." tad toaska strange woman to zip me wp, Mary! Down on the shore giggling and shrieking people picked their way aeross slippery rocks “Then witha great deal of cheering al splashing they took tothe water en masse fanning ost all directions. Some eared a large banner that read, “The Right 0 Sim “The water was somewhere around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but i felt a 61-year-old swimmer announced after climbing out and wrapping usp again, “bloody wonderiul” She handed her sistora Chedda-and-Branston-Pickle sandwich and told me she usually hates encountering rowels when they go swinming bt chat this one vas delightful More round of cheers went up as new waves of swimmers splashed into the water. An oker ‘woman wearing pinkfloral swimsuit passed on theshore to trntothe erowd sill on and. “Dont be beaten dove! she showed, sing fist above hee ler bedecked bathing cap. Rebel! Then she, to, flopped into the lake ‘On the bank above the reserve, choir ser enaded the swimmers: 20 72023 "He said ‘All this land is my master's! at that | stood shaking my head Noman has the right to own mountains, any more than the deep ocean bed: ‘The song, by the folk singer Ewan McColl, was about another mass trespass, one that rook place 91 years earlier above this very reservoir, luring which protesters were arrested for daring towalk on hills they were cold to keep of. Over the decades that followed, the protesters con: tention that people had some inherent rights of aceess even tolands they did not own — which in Englands mostland, becausethe vast majority of ‘the country isin private hands — was enshrined in Taw, guaranteeing public access tothisand many ‘other parts of the countryside, Lately, though, the swimmers told me, those hard-won gains had begun to seem both less expansive and less secure than they onee imagined. During the pandemic, many took up ‘open-water swimming or paddling ot walking ‘only tobe surprised atthe numberof places they ‘weren't allowed! tog. The reservoir, owned bya peivateutiity company even though tsinside the Peak District National Park, was one such place: Englane’s national parks are full of land that is privately owned —and inhabited, farmed, mined tnd hunted) The government began to push to criminalize forms of trespass never before con sidered to be erimes. Then, in January, the High Court sided with a wealthy couple who wanted to keep the public from camping on an estate they bought inside Dartmoor National Park, in tan area called the Commons, the only place in England where wild carping, what we would cal backpacking, was still considered aright, Robert ‘Macfarlane, the English nature writer called the ruling nationwide wake-up cal Onlysehen “the last relicofa long-lost openness” was threatened ld it become clear just how much wasat stake Like the trespassers whose anniversary they ‘were commemorating the swimmers believed they were fighting for something bigger than the chance to walkupahill or swim ina river — some thing fundamental about ther relationship tothe land where they lived "Is not so much that we need to be granted permission, explained a woman with long gray hair anda sweatshirt that read, “Kayaking Is Not Crime "I's that we need it to be recognized thar we don't need permission” Centuries ago, high moors like those of Kinder ‘Scout, the plateau that stretched above the reser voir, were considered King’s Land, uncultivated areas to which access was free. In the villages below, land was often claimed by the aristocraey snd gentry, who collected taxes from the peasants ‘who worked it, but many villagers, called com: ‘moners, held shared rights to “common” lan, where they could graze their animal or plant crops or gather firewood, ‘This type ofland disappeared rapidly during the enclosure movement of the 18th and 49th centuries, when the wealthy claimed wild and ‘common lands — lands tha, as the jurist Williaa Blackstone putt, previously belonged “generally to everybady, but particularly to nobody their own, The movement leaned on the work o philosophers such as John Locke, who argued that people could gain ownership of “waste lands by workingand improving them. But there ‘were others who believed that separating people from the land wasa gross injustice. "What crimes, vars, murders, what miseriesand horrors, would the burnan race have been spared,” wrote Jean- Jacques Rousseau, "by someone who, pulling up the stakes or filling in the diteh, had eried out 10 his fellow humans: ‘Beware of listening to this impostor Youare los ifyou forget thatthe fruits are everyone's andthe earth's is no one's ‘As enclosure spread, many former users of the land were pushed out. With no way to make a living, they drifted to cities. Kinder is not far from Manchester and Sheffield, two early cen: ters of the Industral Revolution, whose resi dents liked to escape the choking air by going on long walks in the countryside. But many of the landowners who controlled the hills weren't fond of having walkers, known as ramblers, exploring properties they used for raising sheep and hunting grouse. They hired armies of game- keepers, who sometimes used attack dogs, 10 kick the ramblers out. ‘Some ramblers, in their ety lives, were involved in trade unions and other labor move: ‘ments, and they began to bring the seme spiritof organization and protest to their weekend walks. (As the most shostable line ofthe MeCol song has it, “T may be a wage slave on Monday/But 1 ama free man on Sunday") The land they were walking might be private property, they argued, but its owners weren't the only ones with the right to use it English law acknowsledges that a right can be established through long custom, and the walkers were following ancient paths and bridle ways onto upland that had only recently been privatized ‘Some walkers began holding rallies axl under. taking purposeful trespassesin places where they knew they would be ejected. This had been going ton for decades when, in April 1932, a rambler named Benny Rothman alerted the pres thathe and others would be heading up past the reser- voir to the plateas above i, an area owned by the Duke of Devonshire. Hundreds of ramblers tussled with keepers, making national headlines. Six were arested an five sentenced to as much as six months in jail ‘Avthe time, England was home toa number of groups working to protect commons, parks and walking trails as part of what the campaigner Octavia Hil at an 1888 meeting of what eventual Iybecame the Open Spaces Society (OSS), called “a common possession we ought to try to hand1 Above: Simmer atthe eily Kinder Reservoir near Heyl in Apel locating forpube acess {eopen spacee, Opening pages: A wealthy coupe bought an eva Insite Dartncor National Park and down undiminished in number and in besuty [Mos saw the wespassers’ actions as counterpro:

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